Lighting Design: Light as Wellness Rather Than Utility
Creating a Home Environment that Feels Right
There was a time when a home’s lighting consisted of a row of fixtures and basic illumination for the task at hand. Today’s lighting design has transformed that experience, driven by advanced LED lighting systems, automated control, and artistic, personalized fixtures that elevate a home’s interior design and ambiance.
Today’s home lighting creates varying moods, enhances well-being, and shapes how people live.
Let’s explore the power and possibilities of a professional lighting design.
SEE ALSO: 5 Spaces in the Home that Could Benefit from Ketra Lighting
Connecting to Nature
A survey by Lutron, a leader in lighting control, found that 87% of U.S. homeowners believe a connection to nature is essential in their home design. Designers are achieving this by bringing the outdoors in through biophilic design focused on providing homes with natural light.
By integrating automated shades, the sun’s natural light seamlessly blends into a home’s interior lighting design. These window coverings automatically adjust to deliver the ideal amount of diffuse sunlight while optimizing the views of the outdoors.
Advanced LED lighting systems also offer Natural Lighting, a setting that mimics the sun's changing light. This system makes a home feel flooded with natural light during the day, then transforms into a cozy, warm environment ideal for relaxation in the evening. All just by adjusting a fixture’s color temperature.
In this environment, people report feeling happier, sleeping better, and experiencing more energy during the day.
Creating the Right Ambiance
People and circumstances change. Moods fluctuate, and activities range from moments spent in quiet contemplation to hosting extravagant dinner parties. These everyday and occasional moments require very different lighting to elevate the experience.
Layered lighting adds depth, warmth, and a unique personality to every space. Ambient lighting sets the overall mood and provides the general illumination. Task lighting offers illumination for specific activities, such as a soft, warm wall sconce in the reading nook or the pendant lights over the kitchen island. Accent lighting highlights a home’s unique details, from artwork to architectural elements.
While beautiful and intriguing, this level of light can be challenging to manage. And that’s where a lighting control system comes in. Elegant keypads displaying the many activities that define your life are installed throughout the home.
Press a button to transform the lighting for activities like dining, entertaining, reading, or relaxing. Today’s LED light fixtures, such as Ketra, provide a limitless color palette, from soft pastels to saturated hues, enabling exceptional and personalized lighting design.
It’s All in the Details
Lighting design can elevate a beautiful and luxurious space into an unforgettable one. The first step is to determine the desired feeling, which activities will be highlighted in the room, and whether the client’s preferences lean toward dramatic and dynamic or soft and serene.
And while decorative statement fixtures draw attention and intrigue, it’s the architectural lighting that illuminates a space as if by magic from an unseen source. Tucked into coves, under cabinets, in bookshelves, and as toe-kick lighting, it creates the overall ambiance. Small aperture recessed lighting provides the trending quiet ceiling, and directional accents bring out the best in art and textures. A home becomes beautifully illuminated, without the light source calling attention to itself.
No matter the source, it’s essential to consider quality. Fixtures with an excellent Color Rendering Index (CRI) of 90% or higher reflect an object’s true colors in much the same way as natural light. This creates a natural and comfortable environment with true-to-life colors and a vibrant atmosphere, rather than a washed-out one.
More than Beautiful Design
Light affects us physically and biologically. It alters the feeling of a space, whether uplifting and expansive or cozy, warm, and inviting. As an essential design element, it can completely transform a space and how people feel and perceive the environment.
As the lighting designer Howard Brandston said, “While there are no rules for good lighting, there are some criteria that can be used as guidelines and help elevate it from ordinary to extraordinary.”
To learn more about the possibilities in today’s lighting design and the systems that are elevating the everyday into the miraculous, contact Argenta.
